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Now That's an Epic: Jackson
Conjures Magical Ending
To 'Lord of the Rings' Trilogy

From Grand Battles to Tiny Details,
It's a Study in Magnificence;
No Smiles for 'Mona Lisa'

By

Joe Morgenstern

Updated Dec. 19, 2003 12:01 a.m. ET

"Show us the meaning of haste," the white wizard Gandalf tells his white stallion Shadowfax as they gallop off to one of the many enthralling encounters in "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." Haste is a relative thing when it comes to a battle-heavy production with multiple endings that's 200 minutes long. Yet it isn't a crucial thing, for the invisible wizard Peter Jackson makes use of every scene to show us the meaning of magnificence. Never has a filmmaker aimed higher, or achieved more. The third and last installment of the screen epic based on J.R.R. Tolkien's literary classic...